CSBG Archive

Comics Should Be Good Top 50 Countdown! – #13

There was already a considerable amount of buzz around Ultimate Spider-Man by the time issue #13 came out. Brian Michael Bendis had established himself as a major force at Marvel Comics, and Mark Bagley had his career completely rejuvinated – and yet they both managed to outdo themselves with the critically acclaimed thirteenth issue, in which Peter Parker reveals his secret identity to Mary Jane Watson.

While I mentioned Bagley, this issue was almost completely about the writing (if I recall correctly, a great deal of the panels were photostats) of Bendis, as he explored the reaction of Mary Jane as well as the reaction of Peter to her reaction – all the while, clearly establishing that Ultimate Spider-Man was departing from the style of stories that Amazing Spider-Man was telling dramatically.

The issue, which was almost entirely dialogue, was later revisited by Bendis on the title a few times. In fact, I would say that most of the most notable issues of this popular series were the ones where Bendis is given room to just create a sort of two-person mini-play. The recent issue with the Shocker and Spider-Man (#122?) followed in the footsteps of this issue, with its tense dialogue between two characters.

The first appearance of Mysterio in Amazing Spider-Man #13 is certainly important, but I do not think that issue stands out as much as this issue does – when you think of Amazing Spider-Man issues, #13 would not crack the top twenty. If you think of Ultimate Spider-Man issues, #13 is at or right next to the top of the list, and the book maintains a nice cultural resonance.

20 Comments

Grapeweasel

Quasar #13 introduced another one of Mark Gruenwald’s pet favorites from another dimention into ours: the Squadron Surpreme, a purposefully obvious JLA stand-in who Gruenwald used to brilliantly explore (in the Squadron Surpeme 12-issue miniseries) what would happen if superheroes actually tried to solve all the world’s problems.

Bonus trivia: when Mark Gruenwald died, his cremated ashes were mixed into the black ink of a Squadron Surpreme trade paperback.

Chris Heide

Sam

FF #13 has to trump this. The first appearance of the Watcher, the Red Ghost and Super Apes (as well as the first time the plot device of replicating the FF’s accident was used), and set up for the Inhumans on the Blue Area of the moon.

It’s also a pretty keen issue.

Dalarsco

I’ve read both FF #13 and USM #13. USM #13 was a brilliant character story and the first thing that truly set apart 616 and Ultimate Spidey. FF #13 was classic goofy Silver Age that just happened to introduce some new characters and location, but as a story is quite unremarkable. Oh, and Grapeweasel, you might think nothing significant can be found in the Ultimate universe, but you are completely wrong. There are some great stories there that you never gave a chance simply because they weren’t your classic ones.

Grico

Kyle

dhole

I am happy to finally see an entry that’s not Golden or Silver Age. Even though those eras produce more “significant” first appearances, I think it would be nice to see more issues that most people have bought and read first-hand rather than ones we’ve read about or seen referenced in price guides. That’s just my opinion, of course.

My own personal pick for 13 would have been, hands down, Sandman’s “Men of Good Fortune” featuring the introduction of Hob Gadling and his 600-year history with Morpheus. It remains one of my favorite single issues of any comic.

Andrew

Kyle – I think Invincible 13 does have the fight with Omni-Man, and I would rate it pretty high, since it defines the most popular independent superhero comic around (I don’t have any stats on that “most popular” thing, but it seems to be up there).

danjack

This is an absolutely superb issue. I lost interest in USM with the (Stupid and highly unnecessary, IMO) death of Gwen, but I loved USM at its start and this for me has to be the pinnacle of all the issues I read. It really is superbly written, with Bendis playing well to his strengths as a writer and creating one of the most memorable single issue stories I can recall.

Excellent choice.

grayseeroly

USM 13 is the reason i read comics, more specifically the issue 7 of the British version, witch incorporated issue 12 as well. The pare together are arguably a perfect comic setup, with the high octain extremely well drawn action sequence of ‘Battle Royal’ coupled with the very personal development that takes place in confections.

And as for the relevance of Universe, as mentioned before, its how i started into comics. I would never in a million years pick up Batman 467, or amazing spidy 388. But issue 7 is something u feel u might still be able to get in to. The whole idea of Ultimate U is that its different to just Another 616 book with the same charters, they can do different things, and be different people.

[I agree with Mr Kane, WTF did they kill Gwen!? the one thing in USM that i’ve not really gotten behind even post the fact]